F-M runner sweep cross country regional meet

For the Fayetteville-Manlius cross country teams, all that is left is a venture to Oregon with the goal of a national championship foremost in their minds.

In order to secure those berths in Saturday’s Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, the Hornets first had to make it through Saturday’s Nike Cross Regional Championships, covering the New York and Northeast territories, at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls.

In the girls portion, F-M, running as Manlius XC, easily turned away all 16 challengers, its total of 32 points putting them well clear of Saratoga Springs, who as the Kinetic XC finished second with 88 points. East Aurora (142 points) edged Elmira (143 points) for third place.

Annika Avery was the day’s biggest start for the Hornets. Avery sped away from the pack of 135 other runners and covered the Bowdoin Park course in 18 minutes, 5.3 seconds, giving her the individual victory by more than 20 seconds over Elmira’s Abbey Wheeler, who was second in 18:25.6.

Not far behind Wheeler, Alana Pearl gave F-M a third-place finish in 18:33.1, setting up an insurmountable lead on Saratoga in the process.

Jenna Farrell was eighth among team runners and 11th overall in 18:53.5, edging out Jessica Howe, whose time of 18:57 flat put her in ninth in the team event and 12th overall.

Megan Menz stepped up with her clocking of 19:13.4 that got her 16th among team runners and 11th in the overall race, clinching F-M’s victory. Samantha Levy ran to 19:33.1 and 26th place (33rd overall), with Olivia Ryan finishing in 20:37 flat.

F-M won the boys portion of the regional meet with 48 points, holding off Northport, who was second with 76 points, and Liverpool, who had won the state Federation meet on this same Bowdoin Park course two weeks earlier, but settled for third place this time with 94 points.

The Hornets had, of course, skipped the Federation meet after winning the state Class A title on Nov. 9 at Queensbury, edging Northport on that day, too. Three weeks later, the results repeated themselves.

Bryce Millar, the individual state Class A champion, got to fourth place in this race in 15 minutes, 45.2 seconds, but that put him second among team runners behind Northport’s Mike Brannigan, whose 15:29.9 also made him the individual race winner.

Andrew Berge finished in 15:45.7, half a second behind Millar and third among team runners (fifth overall), while Peter Ryan took eighth place in the team event and 12th overall in 15:58.2.

Kyle Barber continued to improve, as his time of 16:15.7 put him 16th in the team standings and 21st overall, while Adam Hunt rounded out the scoring column in 16:26.8, 19th among team runners and 24th in the larger race. Riley Hughes was 44th in 17:15.7 and Patrick Perry, in 17:36.2, earned 64th place.

With that work accomplished, it was time for the Hornets to make the long flight to Portland, with the F-M girls going after an eighth consecutive national championship and the boys wanting to climb to the top, too.